OBJECTIVES Depression and anxiety are major causes of distress amongst parents during the perinatal period. Their pervasive effects on the parents' self-confidence, on the parent-infant relationship and on the child's development have been well documented. The aims of the present study were to describe the psychological characteristics of mothers consulting during the perinatal period and to as...

background and aim:  the stress resulting from premature delivery and the related neonatal care induces psychological and physical pressure on the mothers, and adversely affects their feeling of comfort. it seems that spiritual care as a sort of communication with a higher power (god) can bring peace to the stressed mothers, and prevent anxiety. therefore, this study was designed to evaluate th...

This study was designed to examine the sequential relationship between mother-infant synchrony and infant affect using multilevel modeling during the Still Face paradigm. We also examined self-regulatory behaviors that infants use during the Still-Face paradigm to modulate their affect, particularly during stressors where their mothers are not available to help them co-regulate. There were 84 m...

75 infants (mean age 15 months) were observed 3 times in the Strange Situation with their professional caregivers, mothers, and fathers. Sensitivity of these attachment figures to the infant's signals during free play, as well as a number of day-care characteristics, were assessed. Attachment classification distribution of infant-caregiver dyads did not differ significantly from infant-mother o...

Bodily movements are an essential component of social interactions. However, the role of movement in early mother-infant interaction has received little attention in the research literature. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between automatically extracted motion features and interaction quality in mother-infant interactions at 4 and 13 months. The sample consiste...

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of an intervention designed to improve the mother-infant relationship and security of infant attachment in a South African peri-urban settlement with marked adverse socioeconomic circumstances. DESIGN Randomised controlled trial. SETTING Khayelitsha, a peri-urban settlement in South Africa. PARTICIPANTS 449 pregnant women. INTERVENTIONS The intervention ...

A STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF MATERNAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS ON THEMOTHER-INFANT RELATIONSHIP AND PROTECTIVE ASPECTS OF MATERNALREFLECTIVE FUNCTIONING